Valencia legend Mario Kempes says the club are doing everything to stop reported Manchester United and Real Madrid target Nicolas Otamendi from leaving this summer. Otamendi, 27, had a superb 2014-15 season with Valencia, helping to secure fourth place in La Liga and a place in the Champions League playoffs. Such form saw him secure a starting place for Argentina at this year's Copa America and also led to strong speculation that a move to Manchester United had been lined up -- stories the player himself and his agent did not try and play down when they surfaced earlier in the summer. Since then, transfer talk has gone quiet over his move and Otamendi has joined up with Valencia to prepare for the new 2015-16 season, without commenting publicly on his future. "I believe that Otamendi is going to stay," the Argentine 1978 World Cup winner and ESPN pundit, told Superdeporte. "The club has told me they are doing everything possible for him to stay. That is important for the club and for him. Soon he will decide to stay." Kempes also told radio show Al Primer Toque that any lucrative contract offer from elsewhere means a move is still possible. "[Otamendi] is a great centre-half who had a very good season last year," he added. "So it would be very sad to see him leave. And I believe he himself knows that. But football is like that, money controls things." Kempes also spoke about the future of Valencia centre-forward Alvaro Negredo, who completed his mandated €30 million move to Mestalla from Manchester City earlier in the summer. However 29-year-old did not seem to impress coach Nuno Espirito Santo when on loan at the Mestalla during 2014-15, and has recently been linked with a move back to former club Sevilla. When it was pointed out that Negredo had yet to click within Nuno's tactical plans, Kempes did not disagree, but said the former Spain international's experience was very important to have around the club. "Not fully, no," Kempes said. "When he has a chance, he has to take it. Negredo and the experience he has, is important on and off the pitch, in the dressing room and also with the younger kids. When people are saying he is not getting enough opportunities it is difficult for everyone -- the player, the coach and the club."
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